NRL 2021: Latrell Mitchell’s suspension has put Penrith in box seat to break premiership drought

Painful episodes, one still reverberating from almost four months ago, have handed one premiership hopeful a healthy opportunity to finally claim the big prize, says Paul Crawley.

The tackles that have turned the season on its head.

They are two brutal tackles gone wrong that have made Penrith the team to beat in this year’s chase for the NRL premiership.

One happened almost four months ago during Magic Round and the ramifications are still being felt by Ryan Papenhuyzen and Melbourne.

The other only occurred last weekend, but in the blink of an eye it again highlighted just how quickly this premiership race can turn on its head.

The race to the 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series is on and every game matters. Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >

Souths losing Latrell Mitchell for this ugly hit put a dent in their premiership hopes.

The question still to be answered going into the final round of the regular season is how many more surprises are to come with five weeks of footy to play?

The one guarantee you can bank on is that we won’t have seen the last of them. Nathan Cleary’s dodgy shoulder, for instance, remains a headache for Penrith.

But right at this moment it’s South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters’ turn to count the cost for Latrell Mitchell’s reckless high shot that has left Joey Manu with multiple cheekbone fractures.

While it’s another shocking injury our game could have lived without, both instances also go to the very foundations of rugby league.

It’s a game that prides itself on being the toughest contact team sport on the planet, which almost always also means it is a survival of the fittest.

And more than anything these two tackles focus the spotlight on the delicate tightrope these players walk every time they run on the field.

Where a rush of blood can result in a catastrophic injury at any given moment, just as easily as a blinding moment of brilliance.

The Roosters have lost joey Manu for the rest of the season.

In the Rabbitohs’ case, it has left them without the player they were also missing through injury this time last year — when they were ultimately knocked out one game short of the grand final by the Panthers.

There is no doubt Souths still have the firepower to go deep into the finals. But can they take the extra step that has eluded them for the past three years, when they bowed out in the preliminary finals?

As was the case last year when Latrell was out injured, they will again be without their star fullback who will now miss the entire finals series through suspension.

With Wayne Bennett resting so many players this week in Saturday’s game against St George Illawarra, it will be difficult to gauge where the Rabbitohs are at until they take on Penrith in week one of the finals.

While youngster Blake Taaffe will get first crack at claiming the No.1 jumper, there is still every chance Bennett could go with Cody Walker at fullback the following week and bring Benji Marshall into the starting side at five-eighth.

The Rabbitohs are extremely reluctant to move Alex Johnston from the wing, although it would be just as big a gamble moving Cody out of the halves where he has been one of the competition’s stand out players all season.

It would certainly give them far more experience with Benji starting, but they are not a stronger proposition for it. While for the Roosters, who were already down for the count, losing their strike centre will be an almost critical blow. You just have to look at the stars already missing and it is difficult to see how they can do more than make up the numbers in the coming weeks.

Ryan Papenhuyzen hasn’t been the same since being knocked out way back in round 10.

As for Melbourne, they remain the team to beat along with last year’s grand final runners-up, Penrith.

But will Papenhuyzen’s obviously fragile state of mind end up being the difference this year, given the flying fullback walked off the field in last year’s decider as Clive Churchill Medal winner?

Throw into the mix the phenomenal form of Tom Trbojevic who has rocketed Manly into contention, and Parramatta’s shock win over the Storm last round.

I still think the Eels can’t win through a month of sudden-death finals, while the Sea Eagles are probably a year short of where their potential suggests they’re heading.

But from a competition that most thought was a two-horse race weeks ago, we now have what most would consider at least five serious contenders. Only one can hold the trophy up come the first Sunday night in October. Who will it be?

PAPENHUYZEN v HYNES

Perhaps I could have said, ‘why the Panthers will triumph’.

Because what has happened to Papenhuyzen in the months since Magic Round has been one of this season’s saddest stories to unfold.

The 81kg stick of rugby league dynamite has literally gone from a player who finished last year as Clive Churchill medallist to starting this season in such spectacular form that there was a legitimate debate about whether he had passed James Tedesco as the game’s number one fullback. Then a tackle from St George Illawarra’s Tyrell Fuimaono changed everything.

To the point where the debate now is whether Papenhuyzen is even the best fullback at his own club?

If Papenhuzyen goes out again this weekend against Cronulla and plays in the type of timid form he has been in recent weeks, it is hard to see how Craig Bellamy will be able to start him in the finals ahead of Nicho Hynes, who has been superb all season. Or does he try and persist with Papenhuyzen knowing that if he can rediscover his mojo it certainly makes the Storm a better team?

It is a huge call either way, but right at this moment you would have to say the Storm are a better side when Hynes is on the field.

But does that make them a better team than last year? I reckon it now makes the Panthers the team to beat.

LATRELL’S DEFENCE

It has been interesting listening to the various arguments this week on Latrell’s state of mind going into that collision with Manu.

I have no doubt personal agendas have dominated the discussion.

Latrell was sin-binned for the hit and ended up with a six-match ban.

What can’t be disputed is that there is absolutely no excusing that at the point of impact Latrell showed little, if any, duty of care, which is always the responsibility of any defender.

So what resulted was a reckless tackle that could have been avoided and was certainly worthy of a six-match suspension that has ended Latrell’s season.

However, what has surprised me is the lack of attention given to the lead-up when Dane Gagai grabbed hold of Manu by the back of his shorts. If you watch the replays carefully it clearly shows Gagai pulled Manu slightly off balance, which in turn forced his head to dip as he looked to pass the ball inside to James Tedesco. And this happened at almost exactly the moment Latrell accelerated into the collision.

In no way am I attempting to make the Rabbitohs fullback out to be the victim in this because Manu and the Roosters are clearly that. But it certainly is a mitigating factor that led to what was a horrible rugby league accident, though not one where there was a premeditated intent to injure.

And that is important, even though at this point in time it is not a factor anyone obviously cares to consider.

COACH HOT SEAT

Michael Maguire has been copping it on all fronts in recent months. But surely Trent Barrett is the coach under more pressure ahead of two battling clubs meeting in what will be the final game of the regular season on Sunday.

While the Wests Tigers coach’s position has been the talk of the game, Barrett would have to be regretting spitting the dummy at Manly.

Trent Barrett in the Doghouse. Artwork by Boo Bailey

Especially when you look at how Des Hasler is now travelling, after he got punted at the Dogs in 2017 to make way for Dean Pay.

But four years down the track, the poor old Bulldogs still haven’t had anything to cheer in all that time.

And they now go into the last round against the Tigers staring down the barrel of not only the wooden spoon, but the former powerhouse club’s worst season on record since 1964 (when they won one of 18 games along with a draw).

The Dogs also have the worst record this year with and without the ball, while winning less games than Pay did last year (three).

While the Bulldogs have recruited well for next year, there is absolutely no question Barrett will spend the summer as the NRL coach under the most pressure.

Originally published as NRL 2021: Latrell Mitchell’s suspension has put Penrith in box seat to break premiership drought